Kate Middleton Made This Surprising 10-Week Overseas Trip Without Husband Prince William

Kate Middleton and Prince William have traveled a number of countries together, but there was a time when they visited a certain country separately.

According to Kara Godfrey, a journalist for Express, the Duchess of Cambridge spent 10 weeks on an excursion to Chile. This was part of her gap year before she headed to St. Andrews where she met Prince William.

Middleton's trip was an expedition with charity Raleigh International which works on sustainable development. It happened in 2001 when the royal mom of three was only 19 years old. Expedition leader Malcolm Sutherland praised Middleton's strength and fitness during the program.

"She was by herself, like most people. She was definitely one of the fitter and stronger members of her group, which assisted her for sure," Sutherland told Evening Standard. "At times it was physically demanding. She was pretty easy going."

During the said trip, Middleton spent time trekking in the wilderness. She also spent three weeks doing a marine survey in an inflatable boat.

Every volunteer has to raise at least $1,042 to be part of the trip. It was learned that Prince William also joined the same program but months ahead of Middleton's. During his visit to Chile, Prince William taught English to school children and studied rare animals.

Shortly after their separate trip to Chile, Prince William and Middleton at University of St. Andrews in Scotland where they both attended college. According to Middleton, she couldn't help but blush when she saw the Duke of Cambridge for the first time.

"I actually went bright red when I met you and scuttled off feeling very shy about meeting you," Middleton told Prince William about their first meeting. "William wasn't there for quite a bit of the time initially, he wasn't there from Fresher's Week, so it did take a bit of time for us to get to know each other. But we did become very close friends from quite early on."

It was later revealed that Middleton did an embarrassing thing during their first encounter that made her turn red. According to Christopher Anderson's biography "William and Kate: A Royal Love Story," Middleton curtsied when she met Prince William. Unfortunately, it caused the duke to spill a drink all over himself, so Middleton turned red and Scuttled off.